Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Brown 52% Coakley 47%...But Will Dem Crooks Cheat?

Martha Coakley just conceded. There is a breath of fresh air tonight, after less than a year of Obamanable government. I'm listening to Sean on Fox for the first time since November and felt that light relief when spring sets in and the snow melts. Actually, we're having a thaw in the Catskills this week too, so maybe we're having an early spring. There's slush all over the place, and Scott Brown won. Yay! Several Democrats in a Fox focus group voted for Brown. They are saying the reasons are health care and government overspending.

After the fact, I'm not surprised at Brown's win. Since I noticed the 2:1 Wall Street donation rate to Obama and the bailout became an issue before the 2008 election, I suspected that Obama's only purpose was to put through the bailout and TARP. He did that and then some, and has been backing Ben Bernanke and the Fed every step of the way. Thus, he has fulfilled his mission on behalf of the Wall Street-Military-Industrial Complex. I told Glenda McGee just a few weeks ago that health care and cap and trade would not pass. I still might have been wrong, but it looks like I wasn't.

Three questions for tonight, one you'll hear on Fox, the other two you won't. First, will the Democrats cheat and delay Brown's swearing in? When Kennedy was elected for the first time the swearing in took one day, according to an announcer on Fox this afternoon. Many of the Democrats in the focus group say that they oppose any delay. If the Democrats act like crooks, they will alienate even more Americans.

Second, and you won't hear this on Fox, I'm not convinced that Scott Brown represents anything other than a reassertion of the status quo, specifically, the big government stasis that has dominated America since the 1960s. I hope he'll prove me wrong. But the fundamental confusion about where the country is going may not have changed. Has it?

Third, and confirming the second point, a large percentage of the Democrats still conceptualize the status quo as "centrist". The status quo is not centrist, it is extremist and socialist. America now is a national socialist state. It is not centrist. It is extremely troubling that many Democrats think that it is.

The Democrats in Congress still may force the health care bill through. If so, they are fools. If health care passes, there will be considerable damage to the economy. Cap and trade, which hopefully will die no matter what, is like a sledge hammer to the real economy. Now it is unlikely to gain traction. The Democrats' forcing health reform will do short term damage. Longer term, though, the Democratic extremists (who call themselves centrists) would be banished for decades.

But would the health care bill be repealed under a future Republican majority? The Republicans have a consistent strike-out record with respect to repeal of failed socialist regulation and spending schemes. Does the election of Brown mean this will change, or do Progressives like Newt Gingrich and John McCain still control the GOP?

4 comments:

What can Brown possibly do besides help prevent Obamacare from coming into existence? Regardless of his stances, the fact is he is one man. We need many more. But I believe this is foreshadowing for the future of the Republican party: Brown has proved we do not need any McCains to win.

Dear Anonymous--I'm glad of your faith in the Democratic Party. Perhaps you should found the Boss Tweed/Richard J. Daley School of Economics. Yes, the Democrats are truly men of honor.

As far as the Republicans cheating in '00, maybe, maybe not. If they did, perhaps they were thinking of Kennedy in 1960 and the outright fraud under one of your heroes, Mayor Daley. Or perhaps they were thinking of the racketeers and experts in voter fraud who got Sticky Fingers Obama elected, ACORN.

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Mitchell Langbert

About Me

I have researched and written about employee benefit issues and in my previous life was a corporate benefits administrator. I am currently associate professor of business at Brooklyn College. I hold a Ph.D. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, an MBA from UCLA and an AB from Sarah Lawrence College. I am working on a project involving public policy. I blog on academic and political topics.